Customer Portal: Revamp

The engagement between broker and end customer has been important to us – ever since we first began dreaming up the ins and outs of our software platform sitting around a kitchen table back in early 2016. Deciphering our notes from those sessions is somewhat of a challenge, but the words ‘Customer Portal’ stand out from the page, circled a million times with arrows coming and going from its centre.

The concept was simple. Provide our broker subscribers with the ability to create logins for their SME and corporate customers alike, which can be distributed to the decision makers and influencers within. Give these end users the chance to see their entire energy portfolio in a few simple but navigable pages, check the accuracy of their sites & meters, and perhaps most importantly view the status of electricity & gas contracts. Further still, during live tenders, provide a constantly-updating stream of quote results as they flood in from the suppliers – complete with site-by-site breakdown of energy costs.

So this is exactly what we did – and the feedback has been just wonderful. Simple yet effective, the presentation of current standing and upcoming tenders has been welcomed by those in charge of energy purchasing. But there’s so much more we can do.

Over the last year or so, we’ve focussed almost entirely on the broker side of the platform. We’ve added Lead Generation, Activities, Commission Forecasting and hundreds (and hundreds…and hundreds…) of features to project the UtilityClick system to where it is today. But whilst the depth and capabilities of the platform have magnified many times over, the customer portal has been left trailing behind in terms of improvements.

But now it’s time to change that. And after another brainstorming session using feedback from our subscribers (and no kitchen table in sight), we’ve started work on a revamp to entice your customers and put a smile on the face of your consultants.

Without taking away from the simplicity and usability of the portal, we’re adding extra functionality to provide deeper insight to the end customer on their contracts, portfolio and tenders. Dynamically-updated Activities lists are being introduced, to show the customer exactly what’s underway by their broker. Forecasts for non-energy costs, bespoke uploads and downloads of reports and marketing information, greater meter-level detail on contracts and more besides!

About the author

Rod Westwood

Rod’s industry experience stems from a decade working in business consultancy specialising in the global oil & gas industry. During this time, he has provided commercial and market expertise to support finance raising and equity investments totalling in excess of $10 billion for clients in more than 50 countries. His passion for technology & energy go hand in hand in the development of the UtilityClick software platform.